Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy on Sport Performance and Recovery

Overview

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy works to improve sports performance and recovery in athletes. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does PEMF therapy enhance participants' performance during exercise? * Does PEMF therapy enhance recovery in participants after exercise? Researchers will compare active PEMF therapy to sham PEMF therapy (using the same device for both, but without any electromagnetic fields) to see if active PEMF therapy is effective in improving sports performance and recovery. Participants will: * Receive active pulsed electromagnetic field therapy or sham pulsed electromagnetic field therapy twice a week for 8 weeks. * Visit the laboratory at baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks for sports performance and recovery assessments.

Detailed description

This is a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled superiority trial with two parallel groups and a 1:1 allocation ratio investigating the effects of PEMF therapy on athletes. Participants will be recruited from the Physical Education and Sports Science Department at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Researchers will monitor sports performance and recovery outcomes during baseline assessment and at the 8- and 12-week follow-ups after the start of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy. The PEMF therapy will last for 8 weeks, with the final assessment scheduled at week 12. The outcomes measured at 8 weeks will reflect the short-term effects, while the final time point may indicate the carry-over effects of PEMF therapy on athletes.

The PEMF therapy will be administered using a commercial device (QuantumTX Pte). The delivery of PEMF to the leg will not produce heat or cause any sensation, which allows the participants to be blinded to the treatment. Participants in the control group will receive sham exposure with the same PEMF device. Each leg will undergo either active PEMF therapy or sham PEMF therapy for 10 minutes per session, with the treatment administered twice weekly for 8 weeks, resulting in a total of 16 sessions. The PEMF device will be activated by the Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) card, which will be coded to deliver either the active or sham PEMF treatment. The PEMF therapy procedure will be as follows: The participant will be seated in a 90° position on a chair, and the entire quadriceps muscle will be placed within the solenoids of the PEMF device. When active, the device delivered uniform 1.2 mT, 50 Hz PEMFs to each quadriceps muscle for 10 minutes.

Interventions

• Device Active Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy
  The experimental group will receive active Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy twice weekly for 8 weeks, for a total of 16 sessions. Participants will sit comfortably in a chair with their legs placed inside the solenoid of the PEMF device. The active PEMF settings are 1.2 milliTesla (mT) at 50 Hertz (Hz). Each PEMF session will last 20 minutes, with 10 minutes of active PEMF exposure per leg.
• Device Sham Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy
  The control group will receive sham Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy twice weekly for 8 weeks, for a total of 16 sessions. Participants will sit comfortably in a chair with their legs placed inside the solenoid of the PEMF device. The sham PEMF settings are 0 milliTesla (mT) at 0 Hertz (Hz). Each PEMF session will last 20 minutes, with 10 minutes of sham PEMF exposure per leg.

Primary outcome measures

• Wingate anaerobic test rate of fatigue [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Blood lactate level [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]

Secondary outcome measures (7)

• Wingate anaerobic test peak power [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Wingate anaerobic test mean power [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Skeletal muscle mass [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Muscle stiffness [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Muscle oxygen saturation [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Muscle activity [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]
• Strength [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks, and a 12-week follow-up]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Exercise at least twice a week in the past 3 months
• Perform resistance training 1-3 times per week in the past 3 months.
• Have competed in at least two matches / events in the past one year (e.g. heat and final are counted as two events).

Exclusion criteria

• History of fracture or surgery over the past year.
• History of musculoskeletal injury in the last 3 months that required more than 7 days of rest.
• Currently experiencing any injury, discomfort and/or pain at the time of study.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Quadruple blind

Primary purpose

Treatment

Study locations

Singapore · 1 center

• Human Bioenergetics Laboratory — Singapore

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07288892 · IRB-2025-575

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗